First Full Day in London

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Rough night. Jet lag not kind to the kids. We were thankful for the generous square footage of the flat because we played musical beds last night with at least one person up from about 2am on. Up again down again, in again out again. By 10am we were on approximately equal footing having each slept some combination of about 9 hours interspersed with 4 hours of involuntary awakeness. Day turned out very well despite the inauspicious start. Out shortly before lunch on foot, we walked to Hyde park where the kids instantly spied the paddle boats. John was eventually persuaded to deviate from the plan and go a-boat-ing despite the foreboding dark grey clouds (note English spelling of grey). Fun outing though we made the disturbing discovery that people actually swim in that water. Not sure why or how long they live. From there, under intermittent drizzle, we made it across Hyde park to Marble Arch where we grabbed a lunch-snack and then headed out again on foot towards the British Museum. The crowds filled the sidewalks along Oxford street making it slow going and everyone was a bit tired so we had our first trip on the Underground the rest of the way. British Museum is an amazing collection of the finest loot from the days of empire. The kids rallied as best they could and enjoyed the mummies and the Rosetta stone. From there we hopped the classic double-decker bus back toward home for a little wind-down before dinner. We wound down a bit too far and didn’t get back out the door in search of dinner till 7. Took the tube to Embankment and were drawn in b y the Jubilee bridge with views of the Thames, the London Eye and Big Ben. We had a nice diversion then set back looking for dinner. Turned away at the Sherlock Holmes Pub, we found good Thai food in Trafalgar Square. Andrew passed out somewhere between appetizers and main course but managed to wake up sufficiently for the walk/subway home. All in all a very fine day considering the handicap of exhaustion we started with. Hopefully we will all sleep well tonight.

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Photos

It doesn't hurt, I swear!
If they think this is going to stop me from sitting here, they are wrong.

Paddle Boats
Andrew couldn't really reach the pedals. Lauren got her exercise.

Local Delicacy
Andrew was fascinated, Lauren disgusted.

Lauren, stop touching the Rosetta Stone!
A replica actually - the real one is safely behind glass (and many more tourists). Pretty cool to get up close and personal with the replica.

Please, no more museums!
Not sure what inspired this pose. Probably the temples...

London Phone Booth
This is way better than than that ancient crap in the British museum

I'm on the upper deck!
Andrew, pleased as can be riding on the upper level of the double decker bus

Big John, Big Ben
We were cursing ourselves for not taking the "good" camera on this outing. Here, Lauren demonstrates that a decent shot could be framed with the point-n-shoot.

Too much fun for Andrew
Poor Andrew couldn't hang on past the first course. Didn't stop him from beggin for ice cream the whole way home...

Comments

[IS]

Ummmmm.....
JJ - why is your AMI sweatshirt on inside out? Was it in case you ran into any GSK people you didn't want to be recognized? If it was, dude, your disguise wasn't very clever. :)

[Mal]

Keep up the good work
i had no problem viewing and very much enjoyed. Thanks